quorum call:

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: i ask consent the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i ask consent to speak in morning business.

the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: there was a report released by the public interest research group called the campus debit card trap. it reports how calendar numbers and universities across the country have signed deals with financial service companies to provide campus debit cards and prepaid credit cards to students. sometimes these debit cards are linked to a student checking account and many times the school's name will appear on the card. in some cases the student i.d. card is turned into a bank credit card. we're also seeing colleges and universities make deals in which banks issue prepaid debit cards to make financial aid disbursements to students. now, when they're managed appropriately, debit and prepaid cards can be a good thing for students. it can give them an effective way to conduct trantions actions and receive student aid payments. but, unfortunately, as the research found, some of these

campus debit card arrangements raised serious questions. why did the u.s. perg title it campus debit card trap? you guessed it. many are charged unreasonable fees that are costing them and the country millions of dollars. according to the report, 15 financial institutions have debit or prepaid card contracts with 878 campuses that serve more than nine million students. it's a big business. 42% of all students nationwide go to school on these 878 campuses. it's a lucrative business for financial institutions. there's a lot of money to be made from fees on college debit cards especially when you start charging fees on the billions of dollars disbursed each year in federal student aid. so the federal money is passing through these cards to the students, the financial institutions are making money in the process. as the u.s. perg report showed some of the fees are clearly

unreasonable. one of the most egregious is a per-transaction fee on students for students for using a pin number instead of a signature. one of the largest campus debit card companies, hire one, currently charges students 50 cents every time the student enters his pin number at a checkout. pin-based transactions are supposed to be more secure than signature transactions. but this deal actually penalizes the students for using pin numbers which are supposed to be more secure. another unacceptable fee is the a.t.m. balance inquiry fee some banks charge. this penalizes students who check on their balances to make sure they don't overdraw their accounts or incur an overdraft fee. why would you discourage a student from checking on their balance so they don't overdraw their account? some banks charge inactivity

fees. when a student is charged $10 a month if they aren't using the account after six months. in other words, if the student isn't using the card, racking up fees by making purchases, the financial institution still charges $10 each ro-month so it's going to get the money eept either way. ombg there are mysterious fees like higher one's $50 lack of documentation fee. they recently abandoned this not to mention the obscure and unreasonable overdraft fees. not only do they eat away at the limited money these students have for books, fees and living expenses but cut into student aid dollars. student aid should be used to aid students, period, not banks. we should not allow financial institutions to take a slice off of taxpayer student aid disbursements through unreasonable fees and shouldn't have debit card deals between financial institutions and colleges that leave students holding the bag.

colleges and universities should negotiate for the students for the best deal for them. the lowest fees, the best consumer protection. and we need these deals to be fully transparent. students often think wait a minute if the university is recommending this bank or this school i.d. or this debit card, that it must be approved by the school. the terms of the deal ought to be clear to the student so they can make the right choice. in addition if a school receives incentives or kickbacks for providing executive access to the students, there's an inherent conflict of interest. that at least ought to be disclosed. so i wrote a letter along with senator jack reed and congressman peter welch calling on the 15 financial institutions mentioned in the perg report to immediately discontinue several of the worst fees that were highlighted and disclose their contracts with colleges and universities. i'm pleased that some financial institutions are responding to this perg report but more needs

to be done. fortunately, there are colleges and universities out there that are ready to step up. soon after the perg report came out i met with the president of a university in illinois that uses prepaid visa debit cards to disburse title 4 student aid. students at this school were being charged some of the fees that were mentioned in the perg report such as the inactivity fee and a fee for checking on the balance on your account. when i alerted the president of the university to these fees he immediately responded and agreed that he thought that was just unreasonable. he said he'll probably address this issue for the benefit of the students. i hope other leaders of colleges and universities who try to convince students and their families that they're truly their friends will be their friends when it comes to these debit cards. in the days to come i'm going to work with the regulators at the department of education and the consumer financial protection bureau and about with higher education communities to take the tricks and traps out of the

programs. let's give our students borrowing money, struggling to pay their bills, a break. let's not increase the debt that they'll carry out of school trying to enter into the job market. i thank my colleagues who are already working with me on this and i urge others to join me. mr. president, i ask at this point that my next statement be placed at a separate part of the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, since last july the veterans administration caregivers program has been providing the families of severely disabled iraq and afghanistan veterans with the support they deserve to care for their loved ones. i'd like to mark the one-year anniversary of this program by taking a few minutes to talk about its impact on families across america. mr. president, the caregivers program was originally conceived by then senator hillary rodham clinton. she came up with this notion to help those caregivers who were staying at home with disabled veterans, many of them parents

and spouses, make considerable sacrifices to make sure that their disabled vet has the very best love and care in the place they want to be, right in their home. and sometimes it's a hardship. not just the medical requirements but sometimes the financial requirements. so we passed the caregivers program. originally conceived by senator clinton and the assistance of senator akaka, it became the law of the land. here's what it said. for the veterans of iraq and afghanistan who came home with a disability and needed a caregiver to make sure they could go about their daily routine we would say first to the caregiver we're going to provide but the medical training you need so that you can take care of this vet in terms of their personal needs. secondly, we will provide but a respite. if you need time off to go spend a few days somewhere, to rest and relax and recharge your batteries, we'll find a nurse or someone to come in and take care of that vet so that you can have a little time to yourself.

and third, if there's a financial need, an economic hardship, we pay up to $3,000 a month, not a huge some of month but up to $3,000 a month to the caregivers who are willing to help. we've had -- i just had a group of wounded warriors in my office the other day and they talked about what this meant to some of these families. it meant whether their homes would be disclosed upon or not. -- forclosed oner on not. it meant to institutional care, not the kind of care we would want to have, instead they're at home with someone they love at a fraction of the cost and we're giving a helping hand to the caregivers. let me show you a couple photographs because these these are some stories that i think are important for you and everyone to know about. this is a family i know pretty well. and they're from north carolina.

eric edmondson served in the united states army. eric is shown with his wife stephanie, his daughter gracie, 7 years old, and his baby son hunter who is almost 2 years old. eric served in the army, was injured, and during the course of surgery had complications and ended up quadriplegic unable to speak. they almost gave up on him in the v.a. system. they didn't know what to do with him. they talked with his father about sending him at the age of about 24 into a nursing home. his dad blew his stack, said you're not going to do that to my boy and he got on the internet and started asking questions and ended up with eric being in the rehab institute where i met him. his dad said my son is going to get the best care no matter what. because he worked so hard and pushed so hard, eric got the care that he needed. i can remember visiting him at

his hospital room and saying that i wanted to come back from time to time to see how he was doing in chicago. and so, i came a few weeks later, and his mom said eric has a gift for you. i said for me? a gift? what is it? she said i'll show you. he and his dad -- his mom and dad walked to the side of his wheelchair, lifted him up, and eric took three steps. there wasn't a dry eye in that room. tears of joy all the way around that this man they had given up on was taking these steps. and his mom and dad said he's supposed to check out of here on memorial day and he's going to walk out of the front door of this hospital in his full dress uniform. can you be there? i said i wouldn't be anywhere else. and so i came, as did the mayor of chicago and a lot of press and watched eric walk out of that hospital. it was one of the happiest days

i can ever remember. stephanie was waiting for him with his daughter graci and they moved to north carolina back to their home. mom and dad gave up their business, devoted their lives to him. they're living with the family to make surer rick has a life and they have a brand-new baby boy. i went down to visit them at their home. local people said we'll build you a home at no expense that you can get around in your wheelchair. terrific, a wonderful story of a brave family that worked hard to giver rick a life and all the neighbors and friends that sustained him. eric's story went a chapter further. his dad came to me and said have you ever heard of the caregiver's bill that hillary clinton introduced? i said no. he said she's leaving the senate to be secretary of state, and would you take a look at it, and

i said i would. as a result of that, i worked with senator akaka, senator inouye and the president. we signed it into law. and as a result of it, families just like the evanss will get the helping hand they need to giver rick the care he needs. the iraq war is over but his struggle from that war will continue and we want to make sure he has the loving care he needs throughout his life. let me tell you about another family from clinton, illinois. maybe i don't have a photo on this. nathan floyd and his mother deana. nathan was a police officer in iraq who suffered an aneurysm while on duty in 2008. his recovery took 15 months and at one point it was suggested nathan should go to a group home, but his mother said he's coming home with me.

deana has taken care of him ever since. they thought nathan would never wake up, never regain consciousness but with his mother's support he exceeded everyone's expectations. he received his associate's degree, working on a bachelor's degree. deana says the caregiver program gives her the assistance so she doesn't feel she's caring for nathan alone. another caregiver named beth pointed out that this support from the caregiver's program gave her the flexibility to be able to care for her husband full time. these are the kinds of families we wanted to help. when we started, we thought a few thousand in iraq and afghanistan veteran families might apply. as it turns out, these wounds that lead to this type of care are more prevalent than we thought, and the families' hearts are even bigger than we imagined. so far 5,153 families have qualified for the caregiver's program. think about that: 5,000-plus.

they have taken the training to provide quality care for their loved ones in the comfort of their own homes. this includes deana and beth and 129 families in my state. and i'll bet you that there's some families in minnesota. this is an interesting and amazing story as well. this is a family from oak lawn, illinois. yuri and amy surmisley. they are in the center of this photo. i was connected with them several years ago after i read about them in a chicago newspaper. they became strong advocates for the caregiver program and they spread the word all over the state of illinois, including at this event in chicago this fall. yu r*eu was a marine serving in afghanistan and iraq, in 2006 he came back to the united states for surgery at the military hospital where he suffered complications from a burst appendix and was left with a severe brain injury. when she got the news, amy drove

to the hospital and put her whole heart and her whole life into caring for yuri. at the time they weren't married but amy said i made my commitment to him before this. i got married after he suffered this grievous injury. the couple qualified for the caregiver's program last summer. as amy told the sun times in an update to their story, it's good to be recognized for what i've been doing and other people have been doing for so many years. mr. president, let me close with a brief update on eric edmondson. his father ed he tells me in a note that enrollment in the program went smoothly, the caregiver's program. his wife beth who gave up her health insurance when she left her job to care for her son, this disabled vet, has her health insurance back thanks to the program. eric is doing well. he's back hunting and fishing. his dad set up a special arrangement where he could out and go hunting, he loved it so

much, and go fishing with his bad. -- dad. eric also received the 2011 pathfinder award from the safari club international in recognition of the way he's explored life undeterred by his injuries. as part of the award he's going to head to south africa in september to hunt big game. who would have imagined that this young man, abandoned by our system and said that he would spend the rest of his life alone, virtually alone in a nursing home now has such a full life. as his father said in his note to me, eric works through his challenges. he will not be disabled by them. always a warrior. mr. president, i'm pleased the caregiver's program has been able to help veterans across america, over 5,000 of them in illinois, north carolina and everywhere. i encourage anyone who is following this statement on the floor of the senate or knows of an iraq or afghanistan veteran who may qualify for the caregiver's program to get more

information at www.caregiver.va.gov. mr. president, i now ask consent my final statement here be placed in a sproeut point in -- separate point in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: last sunday i met to gardener township and met with farmers to talk about the drought. we were across the street from a cornfield -- and i've seen these since i was a little kid. if you looked at it driving by, you'd think just another cornfield. well, the farmers took the end of the cornfield and we started looking at the corn on the stalks and it's a disaster. the drought has really taken its toll. as of last week my entire state is suffering through at least a moderate drought and 33 counties have been declared in severe drought. they have joined 1,000 other counties and 26 states that have already been declared disaster

areas by the u.s. department of agriculture. some people think it's the worst drought in 25 years. i'm afraid they could be right. no one knows it pw-r or see -- knows it better than our farmers. some of this corn crop is going to be flat-out lost. they chop it off at ground level, let it dry out and try to feed it to livestock. but, it's going to get worse if the drought continues. we need rain and we need it desperately. not just a little rain, but a level of consistent, meaningful accumulation. the primary tool available to producers to help them get through this is crop insurance. taxpayers help the crop insurance program by subsidizing about 62% of the premiums but it's a better deal than disaster payments which are unfortunately massive in amount and don't reward good conduct. the basic crop insurance program rewards those producers who are trying to protect themselves from these outcomes. i talked to secretary vilsack

with the department of kwra*g last week. -- with the department of kwra*g kwra*g -- agriculture ago last week. the benefits available to low farmers are low-cost loans, low-interest loans that they can take out to get through this while they're waiting for their crop insurance payouts. these farmers don't want a handout but they have no choice. they've got to get through this year so they can get into next year. loans are not going to solve the problem but they will help them address the problem. now, mr. president, there is a political thing we can do. i wish we could pass a bill to create rain. that would be a nice start. but we're tphofplt but we did pass the farm bill. 64 senators, democrats and republicans, voted for the farm bill. debbie stabenow of michigan and pat roberts of kansas -- a democrat and republican -- worked through a bipartisan bill when most people said they didn't have a chance. and they did it. they did a great job on it. then they sent it over to the house. the house, unfortunately, has

not been able to move the farm bill. this is a lot like the story we heard before on the transportation bill. here's a bill critically important for farmers, many of whom are facing disasters like droughts right now, and the house needs to get moving. i hate to put pressure on them, but that's what senators do to house members. and they try to do the same to us. if they fail to pass a farm bill, it's going to reduce the opportunities to help our farmers through this drought. so i'm encouraging all the members of the house of representatives, democrats and republicans, if you can't come up with your own bill, at least vote on the senate bipartisan bill. it's a bill that's going to give us a chance to help our producers in rural america who are facing a natural disaster. i think it's, as they face these natural disasters, we shouldn't be creating political disasters to make it worse. i call on the house of representatives before you leave for the august recess, pass a farm bill, get to conference, get the job done. mr. president, i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a

quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the call of the quorum be terminated. officer without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent to proceed to executive

session and calendar number 663, which is the nomination of michael a. shipp of new jersey. the presiding officer: without objection, the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary. er michael a. shipp of new jersey tock united states district judge for the district of new jersey. mr. reid: i send a cloture motion to the desk with respect to it. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on nomination of michael a. shipp of new jersey to be united states district judge senator the district of new jersey signed by 17 senators as follows: mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i now ask consent that the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. reid: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent that we

now proceed to a period of morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: and that senators be allowed to speak for up to ten minutes each during the period of morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that s. 3412 and s. 3413, which are both at the desk, be considered as having been read twice and placed on the calendar. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: there are two bills at the desk. i ask for their first reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the title of the bills for the first time. the clerk: s. 3414, a bill to enhance the security and resiliency of the cyber and communications infrastructure of the united states. h.r. 5872, an act to right president to provide a report detailing the sequester required by the budget control act of 2011 on january 2, 2013. mr. reid: mr. president, i now ask for a second reading of both of these matters and object to my own request.

the presiding officer: objection having been heard, the bills will be read for a second time on the next legislative day. mr. reid: mr. president, i now ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 2:00 p.m. on monday, july 23. that following the prayer and the pledge, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day and at that time that i be recognized. at 5:00 p.m., the senate proceed to executive session to car calendar number 663, the nomination of michael a.shipship to be united states district judge for the district of judge judge, with 30 minutes of debate equally divided and controlled in the usual form. further, that the cloture vote on the shipp nomination be at 5:30 on monday. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: the next roll call vote, mr. president, will be at 5:30 on monday. if there's no further business to come before the senate, i ask it adjourn under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until senate stands adjourned until

>> republican sponsored bill that would've cut taxes and jobs for the u.s. the bill sponsored by michigan democrat, debbie stabenow would've also denied tax deductions for business expenses occurred from outsourcing jobs. senate democrats spoke about that bill another upcoming items on the senate agenda at a news conference today on capitol hill. >> we in recent days have put forward three pieces of legislation to help the middle class. every one of them to

republicans, they block. dealing with small business to give them a tax break. a bill to extend middle-class tax cuts for 98% of americans. and now, they're blocking us from even debating the bill that stops companies spread shipping jobs overseas. and to give extend his for companies to bring jobs back here as the number of companies have done already and they've done it without money. moore would do if they had tax incentives to do it. in the past decade is remarkable in a very negative sense how many jobs have been shipped overseas. about two and a half million. call centers, manufacturing jobs, but it's fairly easy to see where republicans are blocking their ability stop outsourcing. they're obviously defending their presidential nominee, will

of course made a fortune by shipping jobs overseas. according to "washington post", being capital and it goes on to say this, we now know romney was the ceo much longer than he led us to believe. quote, owned companies from the practice of shipping or at the united states overseas call centers and factories. that is what is reported all over the country in the news. it is no wonder republicans are afraid to even debate shipping jobs overseas. the republicans are afraid to defend their support for outsourcing as they are to raise his tax returns. and senator mcconnell said yesterday this debate is an unimportant issue. i think that says it all. outsourcing an unimportant issue for millions of americans have been affected and people today are afraid that their jobs will be shipped overseas next.

senator mcconnell said the single most important goal is defeating president obama and that's how this is legislated. senator durbin. >> less than those on a talk show, "meet the press." at galassi was on the front and speaking for the presidential campaign. david breaky didn't ask him once. he asked them four times what he thought about outsourcing as a business practice when it came to creating jobs in america and four times mr. glaspie danced away. and then i had my colleague, the senator republican with on and he was asked the same question and he danced away from the question as to whether outsourcing was an acceptable could practice for building jobs in america. well, they can dance all they want until 2:15 today when the republican senators get their chance to vote on whether or not they support out thursday,

specifically whether they support subsidizing outsourcing to the american tax code. the same job senator stabenow brought to the floor this afternoon asked whether we should continue to reward and incentivize american businesses to send jobs overseas to low-wage companies or create incentives to bring jobs back home. 20% tax incentive to bring them back home. so the dance ends, the music ends and the votes are counted and we can find out whether or not the republican senators support the same capital investment strategy of exporting jobs overseas. that will be a matter of record this afternoon. secondly what to make a point about income tax returns. it was mitt romney's father, governor george romney who set the standard for income tax return disclosure by presidential candidate when he disclosed 12 years -- five years of income tax returns. now we have met romney saying he

will disclose one year, maybe two. and the smith noted political analysts said can you did have to pick two years after he denounced president. what is important is to know more. and i'll just set the standard. first, mitt romney has failed to disclose economic and financial information of a personal nature at a level that we have not seen an 36 years presidential campaigns. he is the most secretive candidate for president in modern history. secondly, if republican senators held mitt romney to the same standard of disclosure that they required of obama nominees who appear before the senate, he would fail. he wouldn't even come up for it though. he refuses to provide even the most basic information about his own income and wealth in the years before he decided to run again for president of the united states.

why? what is it in his tax returns that are so scary to mitt romney? there's been a lot of speculation. we don't know if any that are true. crc paid no taxes at all but what about a swiss bank account? is there something about in a swiss bank account that raises a question? whatever it is, it frightened him and not to want to take the heat over failure to disclose rather than tell the american people honestly his background. it remains a matter of record. mitt romney is the first presidential candidate in the history of the united states with a swiss bank account, ebay could have used python to conceal their wealth and how they have earned it and secondly by others to feel the swiss francs have a better investment than the u.s. dollar. i would like to hear me on to explain his motive in choosing a swiss bank account. the american people have the right to know this information. s. carl levin sat on the floor

yesterday, we've done extensive investigations over 10 years about tax shelters in the cayman islands were mitt romney has put his money and over and over a can we have found them to be used in an abusive way to deny revenue to the united states of america. and it romney has to answer these questions honestly and directly. the final point i will make us safe. we have a lot of discussion now about the cliff, what will happen with the class in the next measure will take is the issue of tax cuts. i think the president and democratic senators have taken the right position. protect americans making less than $250,000 a year so their taxes will not go up. use the savings to reduce the deficit by asking the top 2% of the wealthiest taxpayers in america to pay their fair share. >> thank you and thanks to harry and chicken patty. in a nutshell, this debate on outsourcing as a window on what is at stake in the coming

election. democrats believe in a recovery from the middle class out. we want to stop outsourcing that punishes the middle class. republicans believe in the same trickle-down approach that we already try. they believe we should let companies continue to send american jobs overseas regardless of what it means for middle-class families. they still make the big companies more profitable. yeah, and most of those profits will be seen in dividends and stock buybacks to turn except the very wealthiest. trickle downs do not work. it's amazing. for 60 years of mistakes credited and now it is the heart of the program is a major party here in america. democrats want to give an income tax cut to the middle class, but given our deficit problem we don't think we should give more tax cut to the top 2% of earners who clearly don't need the help. republican top priority is to protect tax breaks for the top

2%, even if fighting for this causes a tax hike on middle-class families. well, the contrast is only going to deepen in the upcoming month. november is going to be a choice selection and that is bad news for republicans. now there is some new polls out today that show the presidential contest should be mackinac. well, and as my kids would say. or used to say. they don't see it anymore. they're in their 20th. i don't want to get them in trouble. anyone who expects the needle to move dramatically any point between now and november doesn't know how elections work. the nations closely divided and that is not going to change. in the presidential contest, it's roughly 5% of the voting public image of a handful of swing states to make the difference.

but the ground is shifting underneath the feet of republicans. for months, republicans have thought they could make referendum on the pace of economic recovery. instead, it's turning into a choice selection between two competing approaches on how to move our economy forward. the terms of this election are being defined before her very eyes in part in this body and they are not very favorable for the republicans. republicans have faced a steady drip, tribe, trip that is defining their agenda and their nominees in the minds of independent voters. it's not going to show up immediate in the polling, but it will ultimately have is the fact and the impression left by the city trip is not flattering. it shows the nominee that is out of touch, party that puts the needs of the top 1% in this country out of the middle class,

whether it's tax policy or what to do about outsourcing. the american people look at a nominee who had the secret swiss bank account, a history of outsourcing and two wants to give tax as to millionaires like themselves. they don't think that someone like him is part of the solution. they think is the problem. this morning the surface for karl rove's group expression of $9 million in advice to defend their nominees record on outsourcing. good luck on that. it's a losing argument for the republicans. the debate has shifted onto our terms. outsourcing, tax policy, on who should pay why. the needle will not move sharply before november, but the city trip, trip, trip is hurting republicans middle class.

>> well, there is a stark contrast between republicans and democrats when it comes to standing up for middle-class and small business owners are missing out week in and week out in d.c. this afternoon were going to hold a vote to keep jobs in america. mexico given opportunity to stand with the middle-class. unfortunate up and go us up on that. senate republicans spend a lot of time talking about providing search of the taxpayers. well, we'll give them a chance to put their money where their mouth is. republicans position is simple and no amount of spin will cover that. they prefer taxes to go up on every single american rather than allow the wealthiest americans to pay a penny more in taxes. republicans can yell and scream and try to change the subject, but they won't fool the american people. democrats want to extend tax cuts for 98% of our families in 97% of our small business

owners. we've been very clear about that. middle-class families should have their tax cuts extended that we will have a vote to do exactly that next week. here's the thing. republicans claim they want back, too. what would a hundred senators agree the policy, we should be able to pass the bill. not in today's senate, not what the republican party taking marching orders from grover norquist. they are focused on the 98% of workers that democrats want to extend tax cuts for. they're preoccupied once again with the top 2%. they can't break the thought of millionaires and billionaires have a new chip in a penny more so than middle class pays last. they can't fathom having the wealthiest pay the very same rate we were painter in the clinton years. so much the republicans can't force more tax cuts for the rich they would prefer taxes go up on every middle class family.

they want 90% of workers to pay the price is millionaires are asked to pay a penny more. this is an unbelievable and cynical position to take. it's bad policy. it's bad economics and frankly it's bad politics. poll after poll has told that the american people support him in the tax breaks for the wealthiest americans. republicans know they are in an unsustainable political position. they know they cannot be seen as holding the middle-class hostage to force more tax cuts for the wealthy. this week we've seen how they react when they get called on that reality. they stomped their feet, shake their fists. they do everything but admit it's finally time for the compromise. that's why instead of actually working with is to provide tax cuts and certainty to 98% of our workers, republicans are planning to offer a gimmick amendment simply aimed at providing their members with political cover to kill our

bill. they may be concerned about politics ever tax cut bill passing, but it is the middle-class that will bring him on. it will demonstrate clearly they don't care about certainty. they don't care about compromise they only carry about extending those tax cuts for the rich above all else and they will do absolutely anything to prove it. hope they change their tune and i hope they do decide to pass a tax bill extending tax cuts for 90% of workers in 97% small business owners. and then we would be happy to have an honest debate about the bush tax cuts would disagree on, those given the wealthiest americans were tax breaks. >> questions? [inaudible]

>> the tax cuts weren't about to expire then, so that's why we're doing it now. [inaudible] >> that's why they were extended time. [inaudible] >> next question. >> did the entire leadership team -- [inaudible] there has been some rumblings i'm concerned -- >> not a question of having it our way. it's not a question of anything other than looking at what has happened historically. i have gone through this with you before. republicans refuse to support their own bill, the great conrad hill. the seven who sponsored it dropped off.

then came then came then bowles/ simpson. we had the biden talks, the super committee. a progress on democratic side was just a little bit of help. that's what we're talking about. we can do it before we leave here in august. we can do what we come back back in september. all they have to do is get some revenue and we can do this. the fiscal cliff does not have to be there. it can be avoided. it's all up to the republicans. it's a very simple issue. whenever a change at the time to get something done that is meaningful comedy that way. they would not do anything with revenue. no better example of that than the super committee chaired by senator murray. they're making progress, to coming up with a compromise and a letter came signed a virtually

every republican a few days before their 18th a lot to make a decision were not going to do anything with revenue. [inaudible] >> my personal feeling about this is the time the american people agree, let's get something done. but skip the long-term vision of opera going to do with the country. we have to take care of this deficit and the fear in our tax processes. that's why part of what we do will come up with tax reform. we need to get it done. >> there's other tax issues lately. one of them considered the tax situation of the online situation with important than nevada. >> first of all, turbine mnc on

the very fair tax proposal to have people that buy things to distract all three have all over america. attendance supported legislation with the afghan progress. maybe even this year. i really admire and appreciate the status nevada agreed the number of states around the country have agreed to start collecting taxes on purchases made by amazon. i've worked with senator jon kyl for a long time. we need to do something to make it fair as we know there's a lot of things that have gone on in the past. there's been some offshore scams that we've had, but were now waiting again miss a lot of things to get some republican

support. [inaudible] >> attack stricker on those two elements to go up. what is different now about the politics -- >> i think you are looking with a pair of glasses that than that, but a few. the. we are reducing taxes for 90% of the american people. we are not affecting small businesses virtually at all. so we are reducing taxes as far as the security of this country, the president obama has set a standard for how people should be concerned about what's going on around the world. we now have as a result of the work that has been in this administration led by obama, certainly as number one

lieutenant has been hillary clinton to establish around the world and america is now being but that and not replace problems, solve problems. thanks, everybody. [inaudible] >> -- as they account for any tax -- >> suggestions have been raised for years that there's no tax. [inaudible] last night's >> if you're asking whether the irs return the books that taxpayers returns to see if they're legal, of course they do

at least a random aces. so there is a question the bottom that he failed to pay taxes. but then the bottoms of the law that he is -- or onshore tax attack shelters in tax havens within the bounds of the law that he has a swiss bank account. those are all still legitimate questions. to be complied with all the laws in the united states, distillate features a question which it would have to face. he doesn't want to face it. we can only guess it's in those tax returns that's worth all the creepy staking out. >> her to years of the administrations of ronald reagan and bush and clinton and bush and obama have done more to confirm marxist prediction of the rich getting richer and everyone else falling behind than 75 years of the soviet union perhaps.

>> to us about those men and women who are almost mortally injured in war, the beat has said the huge advances that have been made in medical trauma treatment over the last 10 years now are being saved. an incredible number of being saved. almost everybody who falls on the battlefield is being saved. i wanted to write about what was

life like for these people. i really started off with a question, having seen some people who were pretty, pretty gruesomely named, wouldn't it be better off if they were a tad? don't they wish they were dead? >> white house advisor, valerie garrett called on women to be the advocates wednesday at the national journal's conference on women in washington d.c. the event focused on the evolving role of women in politics, the economy challenges women still face in america. according to a national journal

on the survey of 717 professional women three for said the women believed men still have more opportunities to get ahead. half said they had experienced discrimination award as a gender. 60% said it's harder for women to obtain positions of leadership. >> good morning, everybody. i am a correspondent for national journal and we have a great discussion. definitely a hard act to follow, but i guarantee you the two ladies we have here are up to the task. we are tasked with talking about how to develop and grow women leaders in the next generation. and let me just say as a person johannes the ability to read the national journal story about the set top with trailblazers to describe stories about being the only women in their law class

being told they were going to fail because they were the only woman in the class. and i think that we have those women -- i have the women to thank for being able to do my job now. and here are two prime examples. the introduction with ms. marilla was quite brief. we all know she's the representative from maryland, the shoe is also on the commission for women in montgomery county in 1972 when the title ix law was passed, which is the big event that allows all of us to have more opportunities than education that we had before. so thank you for that. that or hamburg, which i learned before this, her mother was the first woman, graduated yell medical school. >> she herself went to harvard. no small feat area. so the question i have for the

two of you, who is started when there were a lot fewer women in your field and i guess peggy, if you could talk about women in science, women i think represented in science and women in politics, where there also underrepresented and what are the barriers and what can be done now to try and move them into the pipeline? >> all shine be relatively brief, but i think the world is changing and women are more represented throughout the science is in important positions in the sciences, but i speaker pelosi was saying, we still have a long way to go in terms of women in many settings and science is certainly one.

when you look at the trends, there's been a very significant increase in women in academic programs in the sciences. and that's biological sciences and math and engineering, the biological sciences were used to the strongest women, math and engineering are still lagging. but most worrisome is when you look at not just how many women are studying these areas as undergraduate and then how many are actually getting advanced degrees, the numbers are encouraging and there's a lot more parity in some of these areas then you might even expect. and not math and engineering, but the biological sciences. when he started looking at the work place, that is where you really see the difference is

persisting and i think we really need to address what are the challenges that make it very hard for women to successfully pursue professional careers at the level of their male counterparts and their many reasons we can discuss later. >> is their open discrimination in the work place and labs in another kind of science field, pharmaceuticals, medicines? >> well, like everything is complicated. you know, one of the challenges is if you are pursuing a very serious career in science, there's a lot of demands on you professionally in terms of establishing your career, and building a research record and accomplishments, et cetera that are happening off at the same time you're making hard choices about family and family demand.

and i think one of the things we really need to look at and is touched on in the panel is we need different patterns for the work place to acknowledge these important issues of balance that men feel, too, but they fall off in more heavily on women. we need to think about what should be the measures of a compliment that are looked at and in some areas, in the world of academe, the tenure system rewards the things, but maybe we need to look at the best thing so is both in terms of what academia needs, that the value teaching as much as value research, but also the fact that certain kinds of research activities are very labor-intensive and it may take longer for a woman to balance out with family in many

circumstances. you know, it is striking that we are making progress. it suggests that we can continue to make progress, but in a field close to what i'm working in now, looking on the united states and europe, i don't think there's a single female ceo of a pharmaceutical to me. there's not very many female deemed medical schools either, although the numbers are growing. so we need to think about that. we probably should circle back at some point to talk about stem education, science, technology, engineering and math because we cannot let up on the members of the trends in the right direction because more women in academic programs in these areas. we know as a nation with a broader problem about making sure both men and women are receiving the education that they need across the board, but

also specifically in science technology, engineering math that are such a crucial foundation for success in life, when you pursue science. >> let's talk about politics for a moment because i think would actually be a good contrast. in the research i had done, generally political and public policy couriers tend to the people are going to does also major in the kinds of things more women tend to major in american studies are social scientists. and i have seen a lot of -- i think especially on capitol hill digs like that, there's a lot of women participating in a bubble ranges. they see the same things around here. we only have 17% of women congress members. it seems like there's very few people at the very top of those

fields as well. so kania, can you talk a little bit about how to bring more women into politics? as speaker pelosi said, part of it has to do with the difficulty of politics. if a route deal. >> as i look around this room. i'm conning the rail and i approve this message and i approved this whole conference and i want to make national journal and our moderator i'm also to be on a panel and this is something about my age, but a system being about my preferences and people. her parents are good friends of mine and our very distinguished were very proud of you, too. i was elected in 1986. i was in the state legislature before that in maryland. but nancy pelosi was one of my classmates and we just celebrated our 25th anniversary. we were the 100th congress in

1986. what i selected there were 24 women in the congress. i think it was 13 and 11, 13 democrats and 11 republicans. 1992 was the big year of the women. you're in a remember 24 new women were elected that year, but then it kind of plateaued and now we still have only 17% of our congress are women. that's deplorable when i see that in rwanda i know they have quotas in many countries. when i look around these developing countries in poverty-stricken countries and see that they have more women in their legislature it is true, backtracking to 1972, title ix sending nixon as a matter of fact. 1972 marker cure fans from michigan, member of congress finally got to equal rights amendment passed through congress to pass on and the senate. it then went through the state, type 35 added the needed 38

states. and my friends still have a movement in congress to get equal rights amendment on our constitution. we still don't have it. so some things take a long time. why do more women not run for legislative oddities when they should be looking at the federal congress? studies have been done about this and they told us something we didn't know when you. they lack confidence. the men don't lack confidence. they say yeah, i'm going to run for the senate and i think i've got some supporters here. the woman says maybe i need 45 phd degrees before they attempt this. secondly, they are concerned about money, maybe even more than that. man i magically say whether she find a way to raise money. i'll get my friends into the multiplier effect, but a woman says -- he handles finances at

home, et cetera beautifully, bush says that an ohio going to raise this money. it's a formidable obstacle. currently i don't think it's both parties maybe one before the other. if a woman runs, she does it on around. and of course then you've got the family considerations, too. a little bit less now because we got several women in congress who have had babies. >> more and more of that kind of thing is happening. but they do have a concern about do they move their families and to the national capital or how do they manage that kind of thing. finally my friends, there's been so much i want to say that none come of the true outcome is so many nasty things that happen in politics and so, do i really need to subject myself and my

family to this? office put together, it says we need to do more mentoring of women. we need to have more women helping other women. we need to get more organization who are supportive. >> i actually think that what we are hearing is particularly for the younger women who want to enter politics or who want to enter stem fields. they're discouraged by any number of daunting factors your fundraising for 10 years of playing with rats in a lab or whatever you need to do to c. you can't have a family. the highway mentor we measure the up-and-coming generation who are in these programs to let them know that there's different ways of going forward? i mean, is that part of the job for us?

>> i think very much so. it really is a responsibility that we all take on. we do it in somewhat different ways, but it's enormously. you mention my mother. i was enormously important that i had a mother who showed me a pass in the path breaker in many ways as well. but the truth is that during medical school and medical training, i didn't have a lot of female role models and had it not been that i had a mother who was in this professional world and frankly grew up in a community where i saw more women role models, it grew up on the stanford campus, but it was remarkable that in my training. if there weren't very many mentors. in fact, my medical residency class there weren't very many female colleagues either. there were four out of 35. but that is -- is just really is so important in and whether it's

sort of leading by example in the work place or whether it's really reaching out to groups, but also one-on-one by secretaries often surprised that obscure people appear on my schedules. they say, why are you made a different person when you don't have time to meet with the ceo of a company? >> peggy, you said something interesting before in the back room, which is your mother almost made it look too easy. i wonder if both of you could tack a little bit about with so many impressive women on these panels and how do you try and explain to those who are trying to become you that it's not impossible. because in some ways i wonder if it looks impossible. you're a trailblazer. >> is on the science committee

and i remember one point we had dulled by the science guy. i said you've done a lot to interest young people in the sciences. don't you think we really need to have technology gaps? he said you know, you're right. i introduced legislation to get more women and minorities involved in science and knowledge it. and the commission was set up at very distinguished the whole, men as well as women on that came up with wonderful recommendations. they divided into three sections , did the elementary years, the other years and then the postgraduate years. all along the way has done anything to inspire women. we at the number one users of the internet and information type allergy. was that they spoke? >> some women. and they also found that not

only was there not been nurturing along the way, certainly wasn't the thing to do to be involved in the sciences, but it was also the isolation later when they got involved in the profession. they didn't have colleagues around they could turn to who are women. the guys had their own clinic. so i'd think and more of an awareness, more preachy now, more having people like dr. hamburg whose very busy in her schedule, but talking groups who say you know, you can be classy and you can be a scientist at the very same time. i represent the nih and i thought a lot of things like that. i talk about the women's research. all of these things need to be done, but we need to help each other and show there is support. i was also involved in project 2012. this is the institute of women in politics and a fervent out in

california. looking at this year to try to get more women to run, particularly older women who may be already have a career, but to say i can do some good public service. ..

>> there are two really important things. one is as a nation we have to take much more seriously our education in this area for boys and girls. we are not achieving the goals that we need to and we are not allowing the kids to fulfill their potential. it's a broad concern and an urgent one and even as we are talking about the things with the economy, and industry, outsourcing and all of that, you know, we need to make sure we have got the well-trained workforce here in this country. in addition, you're absolutely right. there are a lot of girls that we

lose to certain areas of math and science early, because number one they are not necessarily giving -- make getting the quality that allows them to follow their inspiration and develop those skills and also because you know, often they are not encouraged. there are social pressers that somehow it's not cool to be good at math or science. and they are not supported and they don't have the support they need so we need to work on both of these things in a very positive way. we don't have time to waste. >> how do you tell young women that science is cool and math is cool? >> hopefully in the area of the sciences and i will let congresswoman morella deal with that, but hopefully you help them discover their passion.

it gives you a whole new perspective on the tools to address not just matters of science frankly but to understand what is going on in the world and to -- so we need to have good teaching. that is the fundamental and we need to be able to really help to identify it. >> i think we can do a number of things. not only let the word get out and get the media more involved, get more -- eating done and give some incentive for women. maybe awards, bonuses, whatever. there are a number of ways i think, and i think again role modeling is a very important one, but again, there have been a lot of subjects on what can be done. the thing is we need to follow the studies.

we just have the sparsity, so i think that is one of the things that we could do. i like to tell the story about the little boy playing doctor, playing hospital and the boy has a stethoscope. he says to her, well i am going to be the doctor. and you can be the secretary. and she says okay. i will be the secretary of health and human services -- [laughter] so that is the kind of thing we need. >> we have time for one more question for me and i think others will have questions for you but i'm just wondering, you have talked about what you think the barriers to women might be going forward in the next 10 years or so. i think we know that there has been a lot of progress made certainly. so where should we be paying attention, trying to get more

young women into public health or politics or policy? >> well i think you know, as you just mentioned, we need to build on what we already know about what works and make sure we are putting in these programs to help nurture the young and nurture the process and guide them in their careers and what is happening in the workplace, and i mean i think one of the great challenges going forward is trying to figure out where we can have more flexible work lives, where we can support both men and women and recognize also that we can have periods of intensity and then slow down and

be penalized for that. and i think it in many ways is going to be harder and harder. a prescription of opportunity in many important domains and activities, but that is all the more important that we will look at this head head-on and take it very seriously. >> i'm going to go back to 1972 and let you know if you were a woman you could not be a rhodes scholar. and in many instances, if you were in your childbearing years you had to sign an affidavit at the office to say that if you

had a baby you were held immediately or if you are pregnant you couldn't get collateral for your business. even if you had a job. and in terms of education, maybe you were the rentable of a rural school but otherwise forget it in terms of annie authority in education. now, the president of m.i.t. is a woman and the president of harvard is a woman. it goes on and on. we have seen more women who are involved in it and educators. as a matter of fact education, we have a greater percentage of women graduating from college then we do men. and i could go upon with the progress we have made in many fields but i must say the financial field is one. boy, do we need the women and there have been studies that have pointed out that had we had

more women involved in those higher positions and financial institutions that our financial crisis would not have been as severe. and so, when you talk about lehman brothers collapsing, maybe had it been lehman sister's -- [laughter] and when i say that -- >> we have a little time for -- >> i just want to mention what i'm getting at was the lehman brothers sisters is what we need is a balance, a balance. women might have hesitated to take some of the big transfers that men did. men might've been able to come up with some great ideas so we are looking for balance. the financial field in the high-tech field. that nebulous balance. >> so, over here. go ahead. >> hi. my name is christina and i work for a federal agency that is

predominately staffed by women. yet their leadership positions are disproportionately held by men. so i'm wondering what your thoughts are on what needs to happen in order for that dynamic to change because as you mentioned there are more women who are earning higher educational degrees than and than their arm and at this point in time. >> you are involved in the public? what was the question? >> i believe there are lots of women involved in the federal agency but the leadership positions in the top positions are held by men and what can we do to correct that problem? >> that is another one of the problems. you have a lot of these women that are lawyers but are they in the boardrooms? you know, norway, norway actually has a law that there should be 40% women in the boardroom. do you know it seems to be you

working in not only the public but the private-sector? i'm not saying that is something that would happen in the united states with quotas and whatever but i think if we are all aware of it, for instance my husband, never used to be a feminist when we were first married 50 plus years ago, but he now, when we get the account of a company where maybe we have an investment he looks there it at any says honey, look at this board of directors. where are you women? so he has become a big advocate. where we don't have women represented so we need to write them. >> actually i have heard from people who are involved in placing women in executive positions in lobbying firms that the search committees are often saying we would love to have a woman. but it seems to me the qualifications and job's -- >> so you are involved in a federal agency or sell. talk to me about how women can

get into the higher-level positions like yours. >> some people might not like my job but there is one problem. i think that this problem that was identified in government but it is broader as you said, but within government, you know the statistics are clear that the phenomenon for racial and ethnic minorities, the representation is less. and i think we have a responsibility to make sure that within our agencies and across government, that we have systems that recognize this and proactively try to address it but also that we have programs that help to support career ladders, to enable the upward movement of women and the others

throughout government. you know, i have actually been struck in public health that there is really quite a strong representation of women now in key positions of leadership and i work for a female secretary of health and human services and worked for a different female secretary of health and human services. but many of the agencies now, within health and human services, are headed by women and some very impressive women. but i would have to say that what we see in government is not mirrored as strongly in academia and industry, and they think that says something as well, because not all of us would agree that some would say that those might be the more valued

jobs. >> another question, over here? i'm sorry. i didn't see you back there. >> i was at an earlier panel. i actually spent two or three years of my graduate studies ph.d. aeronautics as the only woman in my department in the wallet -- other women. [inaudible] that i really think it's the media. is so important. i have one of my youngest girls and actually see us four, three at the time. i center to school with a sippy cup that had a solar system on it. on the way home she said mommy they are saying that this is a boycott. what is so oidish about he solar system? it's scary how early it starts. i told her you know, i said let's tell a little white lie. i want to encourage everybody that for me it was really discouraging, especially walking

the halls at caltech where you had white older males on the walls because these were the professors. that just because there is nobody who looks like you there, it doesn't mean you don't belong there and you have to realize that. so i just want to give that advice. >> that is a good piece of advice. we need to wrap up. if you have a quick question, come to the microphone. >> i'm with the women's democracy network. the question is, what was the drive to get a leadership position, to run for office and to basically accept the position in a federal agency? >> what is the question? >> what drove you -- >> i think i was rather untypical in a way because women often are driven for running for office whether it is on the local level or federal level because they want to change

something whether it's the zoning in their area or whether it's education. for me, they put the movement back into me in 1972 and i saw the discrepancies that were occurring. i said we need to do something about it, so i was an educator and that is when i saw the seat at the table as they say. someone said if you don't get a seat at the table, you might be on the menu. [laughter] but i did find traditionally, when women run for office they have -- i think i want to be the center traditionally. so i think it's pretty typical still for women to say they want to bring about change, public service motivated. >> that's good. >> for me, i grew up as i mentioned in an academic community and i had two parents who were physicians. i grew up thinking i want to be a doctor and actually went to

college and discovered there were other professions and briefly considered a few other things including journalism, that my father refers to as the period when i visiting. [laughter] >> that is an accurate description. >> yeah, but i did realize it didn't want to pursue medicine and ironic the one i was accepted accepted into harvard medical school, and migraine and when he said, i'm so proud of you and it's so wonderful because now you can marry a doctor. so it does reflect old things. but going into public service was at big career shift and i hadn't planned to do that. i thought i would do academics and teaching and of course taking care of patients but it was during the course of my medical school and medical resident training, watching the aids epidemic at marriage and seating the devastating disease

taking hold. in those days we had nothing to treat it with, and realizing that medicine in isolation couldn't address some of the big challenges before us and the intersection of medicine was router social, economic and i wanted to work at that but from a medical public health perspective and it's that same set of issues and commitments that have driven me through the course of my career and ended me up quite introspective way as commissioner of the fda where i'm committed to try and bring the best possible science to the service of people in need, recognizing that one has to work across many different systems

with the abundance of stakeholders. >> i think that does a good job of wrapping up out anyone gets involved so thank you both for sharing. [applause] >> it was about those men and women who are almost mortally injured in war, who because of the huge advances they have made in medical trauma treatment over the last 10 years, now are being saved. an incredible number of them are being saved. almost everybody who falls in the battles field is being saved and i wanted to write about what life was like for these people are going to really started off with a question, having seen some people who were pretty, pretty gruesomely maimed, wouldn't it be better if they were dead?

don't they wish that they were dead? >> something is happening in the last two decades that is really changing the nature of large corporations, and that is the fact that the cycle time, the amount of time they have to stay on the top of the pack has been incredibly compressed by globalization, by technology shifts, by regulatory shifts and in fact large corporations not only now need to deal with existing markets and known customers and known products, they need to deal with disruption, and disruption is when they have a great core

business and some crazy comes along and says, we are going to take out this company. the best examples of this are two of the smartest companies. anybody ever have a black hairy? blackberry. i was in finland talking to someone who was at the nokia board meeting the monthly iphone came out. they passed the copy of the iphone around of the nokia ward meeting in the fatal quote was, why should we care about this?

republican house members allen westin michele bachmann looked at the eagle forum 19 annual caucus summit. congressman west focused his remarks on the military and the threat of sequestration, the automatic defense cuts that take effect in january if congress does not further reduce the deficit. representative bachmann used a portion to accuse the atomic administration of allowing an egyptian politician to the u.s. who allegedly has ties with terrorist groups. this is about an hour and 10 minutes. >> we can ask the question and

we hope the congress will keep their answers sufficiently short so we can hear from as many as possible. it is more fun if we have a lot of questions. and, so the questions will be short, and the responses i hope will be short. because we want everybody here to be a part of the program. and i have to say, i am so impressed with all the guys who are here in coats and ties. thank you for realizing that this is an important event and coming to be with us today. the eagle forum has made quite a place for itself and the whole american political scene and i hope you will like it and be part of it, and be politically active so that we can save our country so the people who are trying to change us into something that looks like europe, that is not what we

want. a picture of the future as europe is not what we want. our first congressman is here so let's have a quick prayer. >> heavenly father, we want to recognize you as creator. we cannot help but stand in awe father is we look around our nation's capital and although we can accomplish, lord. we ask that you would bless this day. i pray for courage, do you give them ears to hear, a message today, lord and encourage the truth wherever you have put them. i pray this in jesus name, amen. >> ayman. thank you, ruth. i told you we were going to have our favorite members of congress and one of those have arrived. congressman allen list of florida and he arrived right on time.

what a pleasure. representative west has a master's degree in political science and a master's of military arts and sciences. he did serve in the army for 22 years and he was in operation desert storm and iraq and afghanistan. after retiring from the military he was elected in 2008 to serve as a congressman from florida's 22nd district. he's on goodies on the house armed services committee as well as the small business committee and the republican study committee and he has made a name for himself. we are very proud that he is here today. please welcome congressman allen west. where are you? [applause] someone passed a note that he was here. [inaudible] >> he will be here in just a moment. >> okay. he is here somewhere. they have to find them.

>> i thought he was here but in your packet you will see a social media contact and so basically we are looking for meaningful interaction between students here and speakers who are speaking, so we are going to give away a very fun prize. it is a mini-camcorder that has a drive that you can put into your computer and share those videos very easily. so we are going to get that out on friday at the end of the conference to the student who has not only a quantity of social media interactions but meaningful interaction so brian o'neal is going to be judging a contest. he is one of our interns so he is going to be looking for your hashtag and those types of things. the second contest we are going to have this for t-shirts. if you ask a question you are going to get a red ticket from the intern that has the mic. so every ticket will enter you in a drawing at the end of each

day so -- for some really neat eagle forum tickets. >> i hope you all understated that because i didn't understand a word she said. anyway, that is the generational difference so we thank you for interacting on social media. so, we hope you will be active on social media. i know obama has done a great thing with that and we want to be just as good and enrich many people. and, i don't understand. they told me he was here. he must be bogged down with some of his fans out side. but anyway, you are all happy and here on time. thank you for coming. i want you to socialize with the other students. you are a most attractive bunch of students. i think there are usually about

100 colleagues represented at our eagle forum collegians coming from all over the country. and we thank you. eagle form has an absolutely spectacular web site. i think it's the best in the conservative movement because it's a goldmine of information and if you are on our e-mail list, you will get notices of alert. oh yes, congressman west is here. it gave you a beautiful introduction and everybody clapped so we can clap again. [applause] i said being in the military you are on time, and we thank you. >> thank you. once again, it's truly a pleasure and honor to be here with eagle forum and a champion of constitutional conservative principles and value phyllis schlafly. she has been here for quite sometime and i'm honored she

would allow me to be out there with her on the frontlines. they wanted me to talk about, 22 years in the military that means they want me to talk a little bit about the military and they wanted to talk about military superiority. i was just reminded of a little line i had when they talked about the law of the sea treaty which you know is coming up in the senate. i think one of the best ways to make sure you have a law of the sea treaty is to have a good strong maybe. unfortunately when you look at what is happening in our country right now with sequestration, it continues to be a vicious cycle that happens in the united states of america. if you go back to world war i, at the end of world war i which was we do with our military? what happened after world war i? we had world war ii. after the world war ii we got into the military and what happened after world war ii? we sent a bunch of people to place called korea. after korea once again the next thing you know we are committed to a place in vietnam and even for me when i was in desert

storm we had a reduction of forces. than all of a sudden we saw the deployments increase 100-fold from our military. we have to understand that we cannot look at our military for fiscal responsibility in washington d.c.. we continue to do that after every single major combat operation. we believe that is the end of the conflict and that is not the case. john f. kennedy once said the absence of war is not teased and i wish we would understand that. another thing we must come to realize is that the world is truly, and i want to see if you understand your political philosophy, the world is more mock of alien then it is conte. if you have not read emanuel conte, go back and read prints by machiavelli. what we have to recognize is those three very simple words that ronald reagan put forth. it rang true forever and ever and that is peace ruse drank.

the reason why i think you see all of the volatility and all the craziness that is going on across the globe right now is that the kent of america is not -- yesterday i sat down with some representatives from the free serial movement, and they talked about the united states. they talked about the united states gang involved in providing support. i asked a simple question. with what? we are sitting here as you may have seen yesterday with the sequestration hearings, we are sitting here arguing about what we are going to do to our military. we are going to send 200,000 men and women home and take her ground forces down, the army entering court to level we have never seen since 1940. we are going to take our united states navy down to a level that it's not been since 1950. and yet people are saying we need the united states military. we don't have a credible

military threat right now. we just don't. we have men and women who have been on five and six combat tours of duty. we turn over to our special operators who have a narrowly defined mission and all of a sudden we believe that they are the soup du jour when it comes to anything that is happening out there, send in the navy s.e.a.l.s, send this, send that. that is not the point. what we have failed to do in the united states of america is look at the world broken down with the geographical centcom's, the africom's the eucom's and look from the next 10 to 15 years what are the viable threats we are going to face? and then build the capability and capacity based upon that. what we end up doing with the united states military is the look and say here is $20, figure out how you are going to protect the united states of america. it cannot be budget base.

it has to be based on the threat of that is out there. when you look across this globe right now, when you look at the belligerency see coming out of russia and when you look at the fact that china with the trade imbalance that they have, the fact that they hold 28% of our dad, they are growing an economy that is not going towards the standard of living of the chinese citizen. they are looking at increasing their military capability. the world's largest navy within the next eight to nine years will be flying the chinese flag but yet what are we doing with our navy? in the 19 '90s we had some 560 some odd naval war vessels and today we only have 283. sequestration takes it down to 230. 70 to 75% of the earth is water. if you trace it back to every great civilization to the phoenicians all the way to the present modern day everyone has understood that the means by

which common this is going to hurt my feelings saying this as an army guy but the means by which you truthfully expand the power and the dominance of the nation a nation is to the navy. but yet what are we doing two hours? what are we doing to our maritime forces? that is the message you are sending to the world right now. when you look at north korea and the actions that they take, up on the fact that they believe china has their back as china has so much of our dad and you look at what is happening in venezuela and you have to totally disagree with the president when he says they are not really a threat. tell me why they have missile sites in venezuela. why is there such a collusion between venezuela and iran to the point where you could have missiles in place in venezuela that could threaten south florida. look at what is going on in somalia. look at what is going on across the mcgrath and northern africa and look at the new islamist terrorist group in nigeria.

look at the situation in egypt. there were those of us that said who filled the leadership backing a year ago? they will say cut it out, you are scaring people and we tried to get them to understand what the muslim brotherhood was. the muslim brotherhood said they were not going to run the presidential candidate and they ran a presidential candidate and that person one. our most onto allied israel has been concerned because all of a sudden for the first time 35 or 40 years you have terrorist attacks coming out of the sinai desert and terrorist sanctuaries established in the sinai desert so now they have to bring reserve forces to put them down along the southern border not to mention what is happening with the failure of the united nations mandate 1701 which was supposed to preclude hezbollah from rearming so now there are 50 to 55,000 medium and long-range rocket missiles capable of striking every single city in israel. we know what hamas is doing in

the gaza strip every day, rockets and missiles from the insight into southern israel. now you have a situation in syria. and why? because we are not training. the world needs a strong america. it's not about us trying to be a hegemon. it's not about us trying to be an empire. it's about us understanding that we are a beacon of liberty, freedom and democracy. we are a beacon that of the people depend upon. when you talk to the europeans in the currents earns they have about the insurgents of russians and in fact we turn our backs on them as far as the missile defense, that is what they have problems with. so is military superior order an important thing for the united states to keep the peace? it absolutely is because you have to have a credible military. as part of the national power that you have, the time very. you have diplomatic power and

you have informational power and you have economic power which of course when you look at our debt and deficits, the economic power has failed but you must have military power. and what we as constitutional conservatives need to be honing in on -- i was listening to the "washington journal" today and it's unfortunate. here is a credible news source talking about mitt romney's tax returns. they are not talking about the economic security of this country. they are not talking about security or national security. we are on the cusp of having a hollow military. and they are talking about mitt romney's tax returns. this is such a threatening position. let me put it in historical context. the united states of america first went into world war ii, pearl harbor -- when the united states went into korea, the first army sent to korea was absolutely decimated,

wiped out. we have a bad habit of not being able to be prepared for the next major conflicts -- combat operation and here we are putting ourselves, putting our men and women the best and brightest amongst us, are truly greatest resources in this country, our sons and daughters in a horrible situation. in 2003 when i was deploying my battalion to iraq we did not have enough body armor. we have humvees that didn't have doors on them. that is not how a nation, the united states of america, projects power and projects strength. we have to have a strong military. we cannot look at the military and say that this little 19.6, 19 -- 19.7% of our budget is going to be the bill payer while this other 62%, the net interest on our debt, medicare, medicaid and social security we won't touch it because we have

politicians appear who don't have the courage to stand up and tell the american people what needs to be said. the number one responsibility of the federal government is to provide for the common defense. when you read the constitutional articles one, section 8 there are majority of the responsibility of the task given to congress does not have to do with giving out food stamps. it has to do with protecting the american people. people. unfortunately if you go back and look at food stamp spending from 2002 to where we are today, we have gone from $20.6 billion to $75.8 billion a year on food stamp expenditures. the farm bill that came out of the senate wants to take food stamp expenditures per year to $80 billion. yet we are going to turn over our men and women in uniform and say you are not worth the investment to keeping us safe and secure. that is reprehensible and that is why we have to have men and women who have been on the

tactical and on the battlefield to come make this right type of strategical decisions in washington d.c.. the world is more mock of alien than it is conte and without being said, i am ready for your questions. [applause] >> i know they want to ask you some questions and i'm going to use a platform to as the first one. i was so glad to hear you use the word military superiority. it's not just being strong, it's being superior and those words used to being in the republican national platform, but they are not now. will you help me put those words back in the republican platform by telling your delegates what to do? >> absolutely right, and there is a little known fact that a lot of people are not paying attention to. if we are not careful this could be the first election cycle in the united states of america where we have a sitting president and vice president and candidate for president and vice

president that haven't served in the military. i believe this is the first time in i think 77 years. how will you be able to articulate as we said the preeminent responsibility of the national security and military superiority? that's not just about bullets and ammunition and guns. it's about the full spectrum of the military operations, information operation dominance, intelligence dominance and things of that nature. we have got to have people that have served in the military and once upon a time and fell as i'm sure you will know this, you had 75 to 80% of the members of congress that served in the military. now i think we are down to less than 12%. that has a reflection on the priorities of this country. >> question? >> in your opinion how do we maintain our strength and national --

>> i think once again you have to go back and look at what are the robert constitutional roles and responsibilities of the quest federal government and i disagree with the president when he says people are out there creating businesses and running businesses and are successful and that is not due to their own success. i think when you start to get to that point, than what then what you're really saying is that we own you and we own your resources. we have got to unleash the individual and indomitable entrepreneurial spirit of the american citizen. america is about individual industrialism and from the individual you get innovation. now the federal government should be really focused on the things that the individual cannot provide for themselves and central organizations cannot provide and when you start to look at it from that perspective than you really understand what are the lanes of responsibility for the federal government. look at the tasks and responsibilities for congress in a good a clear insight on what we are supposed to be doing.

the federal government in and of itself has gotten way too big and it's become a bureaucratic nanny state. in a bureaucratic nanny state that we are getting away from the things that are necessary for a functioning government. how many of fred alexis de tocqueville's book? if you meet -- read democracy in america it talks about an congress gets to the point where i can bribe the public by using the public's treasury guess what you get? this is what you have and that is why you have this exorbitant growth in the federal government because we are promising more and more largess to the american people. now, how did that work out for greece? or italy or ireland or spain? i know we are on c-span right now so this is a question you should always pose to liberals. whereas what you believe believed in ever been successful in the world? [applause]

where is the traveling mike? >> thank you for being here. >> it's an honor. >> could you give us some insight? there was a previous -- i believe it was last year. president obama met with jewish leaders behind closed doors at the white house. could you give us some insight as far as what you think whether obama support for israel is one of the -- [inaudible] thank you very much. >> i don't speculate or get into the speculative. as the president of the united states of america how many times has he been to israel? how many times has he been to give major speeches in islamic countries? turkey and cairo.

and you know i think you see what the ramifications are, so that is what i look at, their actions and those actions have not led us to believe that israel is really and truthfully our greatest ally. you know there are some issues about how did the fact that israel was looking to have launch bases in azerbaijan. how did that information suddenly get leaked out and the fact that the intelligence sharing, the bunker buster missions, refueling and air by clearing, those are the types of things that have happened and i think right now once again we are not showing that strong support of israel so therefore the other actors in that neighborhood are starting to rise up against them. >> thank you congressman for being here. my name is molly from ohio state. my question is about syria. some are saying that the lack of involvement is showing that we don't really have power or

influence in the middle east so my question to you is, what do you see our future in syria and what could we possibly do? >> i will tell you this. if you recall the president when he came to making his announcement about the troop withdrawal from iraq his opening line was, i've kept my campaign promise. national security cannot beat based on campaign promises. general austin asked for 10 to 15,000 of a residual force and he was then told it would be three to 5000 in the next thing you knew it was zero. now we left a vacuum in iraq and guess who is in syria now? the iranian revolutionary guard as al-maliki and the shia are pretty much -- so they were able to train through. again, this is the shortsightedness of our foreign-policy and national security policy which promoted what is exactly happening in syria because iran has extended their hegemonic numbers. we have to be very careful about

what is happening in syria because on one side you have bashar al-assad. you have iran, and you have russia. they are supplying weapons. on the other side you have the freedom fighters and do we know who they are? we know they're intended we know their structure. as the gentleman asked yesterday what is the strongest political group in syria because that is the key question. the next thing is you have al qaeda that is operating in then you also have turkey that is seeking to become the next islamic hegemon to return the restoration of the ottoman empire so whose side you come in on? that is the question you ask yourself and understand once again, if you don't have a credible military threat, a credible military presence you are not going to be able to get their attention. my biggest concern is that we get involved in syria and it starts to resemble 1983 in lebanon, where we didn't have the clear and goals and

objective and clearcut in state and we didn't give our men and women, primarily the marines, the right type of rules of engagement and the next thing you know while they are sleeping in their barracks, a truck bomb goes through because they were not allowed to have a magazine in the well of their m-16. and the terrorists saw that, so you know again what is going to be the in-state there? what is a new free syria going to look like? i do not want to see the massacres that are going on and i do not want to see bashar al-assad stay in position but when you make that assertion as the president did last year, then you have to immediately follow it up with a credible presence or a credible next step. and we haven't been able to do that. >> the mic and a question.

>> glad to have you here congressman wes. i just have a question about, as we work towards maintaining u.s. military superiority, how do we ensure that that security is used to deal with the security of the united states intact and not being used as the global police force for global conflicts that have nothing to do with the increased. >> that is where you have to have individuals with an understanding of the three levels of warfare, strategic operational and tactical. they know what it means to employ a military that first and foremost we have to protect the sea lanes of commerce. when you look at the fact of the muslim book brotherhood is controlling the suez canal, that is a concern for me and when you look at what has happened in the straits of form poor ms. that leads back to us having energy independence so we develop a full energy sees -- resources that we don't have to be concerned about the straits of hormuz and we can pull the naval

forces back and take away that threat. when you look at what is going on with china as well, extending sales in the biggest threat is taiwan and taiwan is looking for us to be able to provide some type of assistance and then i think that it's very important in the pacific rim as well as with vietnam and the philippines. i think that is why again you have to look at this by geographic aor's, southcom, centcom, africom, pacom and start to look at what are the emerging threats that you would have to continue for the next 10 to 15 years and build your capability and capacity to continue to address those threats. i talk about about the 21st century battlefield. this battlefield is like any other battlefield we face. this battlefield is centered on non-state non-uniform belligerents that has no respect for international borders, boundaries are what have you so you have to have a completely totally different type of mindset. i think when you look at our military we need to move away

from a forward-deployed type of military. we have in germany or in korea, a cold war holdover. we need to go toward a power projection type of military and that once again lends you to understand the maritime platform that we can use and also the quick strike type of forces we can use, more of your light capability forces and expeditionary mindset, army air force navy marine corps. that is what we have to start looking at so it really is a reworking of our strategic level posture of our military, so that we can be flexible along the entire spectrum from low intensity to high intensity if it ever comes to that although i don't believe anyone is willing to take on a military superior of the united states of america on the battlefield. but they will try to fight you with this asymmetric type of manner. be very careful. you can say that boca ha ron in

my jerry or may not have an effect on affect on the united states of america, but it speaks to your values when you have the christian community over there being pretty much murdered and there's also an oil-rich country in nigeria and you have to understand the concerns that could have on the global markets as well which once again lends back to us having our energy independence. i'm not one that thinks that we need to send the united states military all over to try to quell every single uprising or conflict, but i think once again as ronald reagan said you can't have peace through strength. >> the eagle forum has worked very hard to defeat the law of the sea treaty and it looks like we may win that battle. would you like to comment on that? >> the interesting thing, i'm on the house of representatives side so we really do not have the interactions. that is more on the senate side and a poor straight to the president but we cannot -- our

sea lanes and waterways to this international organization and that is one thing that very much so concerns me. we have this national gun law coming up as well so i don't want to see us lose our relationship is for her as being able to be a sovereign nation and being able to dictate what we do as far as operating on the overseas and of course those waters that are closer to our shoreline. so i'm hoping that the law is defeated in the senate. this is something that they have been working on for quite some time because they think it really leads to a subservience of the united states of america. >> you don't think a bunch of bureaucrats in jamaica should make those decisions for us? [laughter] >> i have to be careful about this because i'm married to a jamaican. [laughter] and her cousin happens to be a minister of their parliament. [laughter]

so i'm going to have to be careful. they might not let me go down there on vacation in montego bay. no, i think that we have to be a sovereign nation, and we cannot allow other countries, hey honey i am not messing with jamaica. we can't allow other countries to dictate our policies and make a subservient to their whims. >> congressman west, i have a question. these young people sitting in front of you, the media has per trade college campuses and totally being behind the left and obama. what do you tell these young women and men who are excited to be who they are and what they can do to actually change that and make the media understand there is a large conservative youth base that can put a rock obama out of office in november. >> i will tell you that the whole mantra of of hope and change is starting to become

dividing conker. i think there are a lot of young people back in 2008 who are sitting at home in their mommies and daddies baseman and they don't have a job, 45 to 50%. they feel that the american dream is slipping away and what you all represent is the next generation, truly, constitutional conservatives that understand that this is a republic and the rule of law must be adhered to and we must maintain that sense of individual industrialism and individual sovereignty. so it's hard on college campuses right now. i know it is. some people would say you guys are behind enemy lines but if that is the case, take a stand on principle and continue to stand with courage and conviction because what you believe in is the fundamental basis of this national and when you go back and read the declaration and the united states constitution that is who we are. that makes us unique and exceptional. that means a young man like i self worn in the inner city of atlanta georgia can grow up and

have a 22 year military career, command -- and stand here before you with phyllis schlafly. that is the threat. part of our dna, part of our genome as americans is that we pass on to the next generation the liberty, freedom and democracy. that is what i'm afraid about. ronald reagan talked about the freedom. there's only one generation away from being lost. is something we passed pass through in the bloodlines of this great nation and that is why i look out upon you. i have two daughters, 19 and 15. you all our future and the media does not want to admit that you exists. and you are looking at the number one guy in the liberal media. george soros has -- a 5 million tagged over my head. hyde georgia. the thing is this. use social media.

get your message out on youtube, on facebook and twitter. connect with others so that people know there is another voice out there. we have to have the continuum throughout all of our demographics that show that this thing you all believe in, this heritage foundation and this thing that the eagle forum promotes, limited government and fiscal responsibility, free-market traditional culture and values and strong national defense, that is what makes america great. >> question? >> wait for the mic. >> congressman, for those of us who are going into the military what would you give to us for device into areas we should be aware of? >> a pay attention to your training, and always take care of your teammate. and that's it. that really boils down to it.

are you going into rotc? which branched? why not army, manned? [laughter] they have the cool uniforms. and you know, you know that chicks dig uniforms. [laughter] and plesea no they have those great commercials. our commercials are better. i commend you for that, because in my family i'm the third of four generations of military service and thank you for carrying on the desire to want to defend this great nation. when you get to the commission of second lieutenant the first thing you need to look for is a platoon sergeant and listen to your platoon sergeant. he will make you a great second lieutenant which means you will be a great captain. that is what you have to do and

always take care of your marines. >> my name is harold and i'm from st. louis. i have a similar background to you. i grew up in the inner city in d.c. and enlisted in the army reserve's and currently in rotc. to preach the conservative message and bring back military values. how can we do that effectively invite the liberals who say it is cruel and unusual punishment? >> well, think for whatever reason, our dear friends, fellow americans who are liberals, they would rather see more people waited to government than being out there being successful on their own. that means a military career. high school rotc set me on the path that i am on today and when i sit and remember master sergeant buchanan and first-class mcmichael, those are my first instructors and i will

never forget those men because they saw something in me and they developed a sense of leadership in me. why would anyone disagree with that? why would anyone disagree with men and women who have served in combat, men and women who have served in uniform to go back to our high schools in our inner cities and try to teach honor, integrity and character and disservice to our young people? that goes to talk about the core of the soul of a liberal progressive mentality and i think that is what we have to understand. there are two different governing philosophies that war in the united states of america. one is that of the constitutional public and one is a socialist egalitarian welfare nanny state. the latter cannot read the way forward in this country. so, when i look at the inner cities, when you look at 14.4% unemployment and the lack community, when you look at the fact that you have over 40% unemployment for black

teenagers. my wife and i, my wife is a brilliant woman and she has an mba and a ph.d.. we have been married for 28 years. black families and kids who have the mother and father in the home, 28%. something is going very wrong in this country and that is the truth that has to get out. >> we are depending on you to size it up. let's give the congressman a hand. [applause] ..

she whispers the lack good to the minnesota state senate, where she was a big supporter of all of our views about the taxpayer bill of rights and education. she was the lack do to congress in 2006. she's one of the recognized leaders of the conservative movement. she brought the country when she won the iowa primary were just thrilled to congresswoman michele bachmann here today. [applause] >> thank you. well, good morning. and today is a good day when i can even be in the same room as phyllis schlafly. she quite literally gone into

other units unison as a young mother at home. and then they just turned off by saying if there's any bias that i have for all of you, marry well. find someone that you loved. marriage is forever. it's for life. you look at that present a lot of a lot of warnings across the breakfast table. think long and hard before you make that decision. get married and have children and lives life. >> in that order. >> in that order, that's right. last night the list has been one of the best examples of that, of a woman who really did it all, who lived life very well, who is a mother and a wife, but also who worked her way through college. i don't know if you know her background. she were and she -- she tested in a nation. if anyone can do this, that would be phyllis schlafly. you can imagine for a list of my

point is, life is a long process and we live it in segments. and one thing that i see too many people doing and saying i want to be president. while there's nothing wrong with saying i want to be president. but get to that point of living your life, doing something. the best example was last week when i went on to make a statement that if you build your own business, it is thank you that is responsible for your own access. he was inferring that it was government that was the reason behind your six s. what this showed was a window into our presidents soul. it is why he truly doesn't get it about what america is about. i say that because i came from a family where my mom was a single mother. we live below poverty. we just had nothing. i had to work my way through college and law school in a post-doctorate program.

my husband and i got married we did even own a car. so we worked her way through college and graduate school together. we got our capital together. we lived on the cheap nonstop. all of her clothes came from garage skills. we did that americans do love nothing. you work and save and put aside. what you put aside is called capital. that money you invest in dissenting meant to me to the money and started her own company. we onto clinic and we started our company and became successful. i became a tax lawyer and spent a lot of time in the courtroom litigating tax case is all to say it was our sleepless night. it was pain ourselves last, our employees first. it was not taking sick time, not having vacation time. we built this. we thank god for it and we thank god for the customers of everything we had. but we know how the free market system works.

you don't get that sense that all that he has any clue how the american system works. that is why policies have been so profoundly dangerous, particularly for you and for your rage. i may just give you one statistic. this is from the house city. in the house budget committee they said that the year 2027 that seems like forever, doesn't it? you know how many years that is quite calculating your mind how old will you be in 15 years. you're gorgeous, every one of you. don't take it for granted your name. it doesn't last forever. if you're 20 or sold right now, just think in 15 years, you're 35 years old. that's not that old. consider what they said. by 2027, our economy will effectively shut down. that is not crazy michele bachmann. that is not right wing bill

schlafly. that is your government saying to you that in 15 years, our economy smothers and shuts down. why? debt accumulation. really? yeah, really. i came into congress in january january 2007. you know what our debt was then? a little over a trillion dollars. do you know what our debt is now? almost over $16 trillion. it took 219 years to accumulate over a trillion in debt. it took less than six years to practically double that data. that is how fast this death spiral is going. so this isn't just typed up overheated conservative rhetoric. the reality is that it's your life that will change in the future if we don't get a grip on the span name. one of the key drivers in all of this is the president's health care plan. that is why this captured the attention of the nation.

the senate budget committee also determine the unfunded liabilities of the president's health care plan will be $17 trillion over the next 75 years. just by way of comparison that 17,000,000,000,004 upon the care. social security is 7 trillion. that has been a big driver everyone has been scared to death with one of enough money for social security. we don't have enough money for social security 7 trillion. we sure as heck won't have enough money for signing up omnicare, which is 17. that is why this is so important to you because it is your life and you're beginning in your future. so i'm glad you are here so we can discuss issues and philosophies. but when you leave here come i'm telling you we don't have a lot of time. we have three and a half to make this election count because over and over during the presidential election, i said all of our

chips are in november and that is more true now than ever. i sat in the supreme court chamber when john roberts made his decision from the bench. and i was incredulous. i put my hand over my heart when he read to the beginning of his reasoning and not down the commerce clause. i thought this is great. the individual mandate, the requirement that just because you believe in america you're forced to buy a product or service the government tells you you must buy, which means the government has a monopoly on the product or service can which means they get paid the price of that service. he did that on the basis of the taxing authority, which was the flimsiest portion of that argument that he could. we can answer that question later on legal reasoning. but the point is now more than ever, we've got three and a half months to take our country back. we could spend three and a half months sitting in seminars and philosophizing but are not time.

now what we need to do is get out. you need to find a candidate you believe in. you need to watch door-to-door with them doorknocking. need help with phone calls, help with getting mail out. whatever needs to be done to win these elections. we have to win the triple crown. we have to win the white house. i think we can with mitt romney, but we have to a band together to make it happen. we have to win the triple crown. we have to win the white house. i think we can with mitt romney, but we have to band together to make it happen. we have to win the triple crown. we have to win the white house. i think we can with mitt romney, but we have to band together to make it happen. we have to win the triple crown. we have to win the white house. i think we can with mitt romney, but we have to band together to make it happen. reduce the senate can pass with high-dose repeal upon the care and hold onto the house of representatives. i did make a distinct contribution. i made the repeal of obamacare my signature issue. when mitt romney began his campaign, he was not for the repeal of obamacare. i made that the issue and the american people are with us. 70% of the american people want a health care plan either fully repealed or reformed.

now, mitt romney has said eyeball to eyeball to me multiple times, michelle, i will repeal obamacare. we need to recognize to matter who our nominee is and i stand fully behind romney do we have to get behind him even though maybe he's not everything you want it, he's our guy. i think we can trust him. we can trust them on this issue. we have to work for him and were released through our senate candidates and house candidates break down the line. because it's your future now that relate to this election be decided. it's sad. the good news is an economy can be turned around. the best example is jimmy carter and the disaster he made in the late 1970s. i worked for the jimmy carter can gain. i have to admit that. i was in college. i was a democrat. he said he was a born-again christian, pro-life and i worked for him. and then i saw what a disaster

his policies were, how anti-family his work was. i had his own renaissance when i was in college and i became a republican and worked for ronald reagan in 1980 and i never looked back. i'm pleased that i did in ronald reagan and a very short period of time showed the miracle and power of the free market system and the economy came roaring back like we had never seen. it can happen again in your life, too. but that's why if we don't win the white house and the senate, we can't turn the economy around and repeal obamacare. so now more than ever, we need to have you in this upcoming election. if you have questions, i'm more than happy to take them. thank you for allowing me to be here. [applause] >> thank you for being here, congressman. i'm jake tickell from iowa.

you keep talking about repealing obamacare and replacing it with while? obamacare? >> there's an easy thing to replace it with. no cost to taxpayers. today we have a monopoly in all 50 states that the insurance companies enjoy in those states. but i want to do is break that down and let every american by any health insurance policy they want anywhere in america with no minimum federal requirements. then i want everyone american to pay for the policy with their own tax-free money and third have true medical malpractice reform. that cost nothing and it will drive the cost of health care down for everyone. such is the beginning. but quite honestly the answer is getting the federal government out of health care. it's the federal government intervention that in spite of the cost of health care beyond any reasonable level. government does that. the government intervenes the price goes up. if government intervention can get out, we will bring the price

down. quite honestly for people your age, the health insurance policy shouldn't cost more than $30 a month. if you're honest with yourself, you spend more than not on itunes downloads and coffee at starbucks amount. you can afford your own health insurance. you don't need your parents to care cover you until you're 27 earth day. but because of the present health care plan coming are subsidizing other people's health care. they are going to you to pay for it. so while this is his redistribution so that there is a lot more we can say about that, but that's the short version. >> it will cost less if the government runs it, don't you think? >> or already seen dnc. no, phyllis. >> and make comments and from liberty university. he said he practiced law. what a feisty give to people about studying for the lsat and

people going to law school? >> study hard. my best advice to everyone of you. i assume you are all leaders because you here in this room. there's a phrase we teach her own children. readers are leaders. the advice they gave to one of our daughters, and a list of book before she goes, what read a wide range of luck as well. it's good to go to a wide variety of sources and be very well read. join the chorus of the presidential election, i love the debate more than anything. that's the entire debate of the process. one thing outside was the best preparation was a lifetime of learning, lifetime of reading and a lifetime of living. i go back to any open way today. live your life. do something with your life. get married, have children. start a business. engage in life. don't be a participant.

don't ever forget this is not a dress rehearsal what you're looking. this is it. this is the main event. this is life. start living afraid now. that doesn't mean just hedonism or engaging in life sentence. that means get engaged now because you literally can start setting the stage for what the future will be for yourself if you get engaged now in this election. it's wonderful you are taking the lsat, the study hard and then law school, take a wide range of classes. and it also may be the foundation for a different career. and maybe a foundation for something else as well, but it's a great background. i'm sorry, you decide. >> congressmen back then, thank you for being here. i have to admit you're my congress crash. i'm so grateful. >> congressman crash. that is so cool. my kids won't believe it.

>> anyway, my question is when and why did you decide to run for congress? >> let's see, when and why did i decide to run for congress. i was in the minnesota state senate at the time that a vocal member of congress decided to run for the united states senate and i people approach me and say michelle, you should really do this. i have no intention of running with the minnesota state senate. i just showed up for the republican endorsing convention. we had an old wino branding. brad on the spot he said you've got to do this. you've got to run. i said i looked like a mass that day. i did torn sweatshirt, my hair was a mess. i had jeans on. a subtle look like a freak if i run for senate. but this guy was so off the charts and they said someone has to challenge him. i thought okay, i'll put my name in. so i did. the long and short, i can't endorse that day.

my husband wasn't around. this was before cell phones. he came home. it was april fools' day and he found out his wife was endorsed for senate in a soda. so i had to run. i was endorsed and you can undo this thing. i ended up being in the minnesota state senate. they actually asked my husband this time and he said the opposite great idea. but we really prayed long and hard because it's a big deal to do something like that. so we fasted and prayed for three days and on the afternoon of day two we both believed in our soul that this is the right thing to do. so we did it because it is the cost and sacrifice. you come here to fight this fight, but i know i was prepared for this fight and i have the will and that tone for this fight and i've been grateful for the privilege. i represent wonderful people and no one doing is bringing their voice in their sensibility to the halls of congress and i'm

grateful because i know i've made an important contribution not only here but also the presidential trail because it's you. quite honestly this is what i think about when i take my voting card and put it in the machine and push the button. i see your face is because i had 20 children invested in the future and that is what i'm working for. >> congresswoman, i'm shaken nation i go to school in dallas, texas. i would argue i'm your biggest supporter. >> please, no fighting. [laughter] >> you enjoyed or do you ever get tired of being the liberals number one target? >> and the last 48 hours i've been their number one target again is worth the fight. the latest i'd have gone on a sat on the intelligence committee. there were 19 of us and we do with the nations classified secrets. something abundantly clear under the obama administration as there has been influenced from the muslim brotherhood at the highest levels of power that the

violent organization across the world. so we are raising questions and asking questions of the inspector general to look into it. and they give you one example appeared to be sick department violated federal law. the state department granted a visa to a member of a foreign terrorist organization from egypt. we list this is a foreign terrorist organization under state department website. our state department brokers will not come our federal and granted the visa abroad a foreign terrorists into the united states. not only did they bring the terrorists into the united states, they took him to the white house. not only did he go to the white house, he had a meeting with the national security council. you don't get any higher than the national security council than dealing with the nations classified secrets. what did this member of a terrorist organization request when he was in the white house two weeks ago in violation of

federal law? he requested that the united states open up our united states present and released to the world the mastermind of the 1993's world trade center bombing the blind sheikh. and we members of congress are asking a question. why does the state department do this? and why is this the latest in one series of another outrageous, unbelievable actions on the part of the administration to allow influenced by the muslim brotherhood at the highest levels of power at the state department, white house, pentagon, fbi. why is this going on? we want to know. and for that, msnbc, cnn, all usual suspects have been lighting up dress and say we are going after individual personalities and being mean to muslims. this has nothing to do with the means to muslims. a lot of muslims are upset about radical terrorists, too.

we believe the administration needs to keep the safety and security of the american people number one. so that is why i am in trouble now today. everyday i'm in in trouble for some pain. who cares. >> congresswoman, thank you for being here. martin from sneads state and alabama. i'm going to make a couple comments and i want to ask a question. i grew up in a private school up until the third grade and then i went to public school. i feel like the education of our generation is deteriorating under the public school system. and i listened to david hartman a couple weeks ago when he goes around and talks about the christian fundamental values that has been placed in our founding fathers and how they taught that in our first congress made a viable, the

congressional bible. so anyways, i wanted to ask as far as reforming the public schools and moving more towards privatization of schools, do we have anything going at this point? >> thank you for asking that question. phyllis schlafly has been one of the leaders in the united states on the education reform movement. she's been on this issue since an 18 babies and she saw problems in america's public schools and we have a common bond and love for this issue. that's why you got involved in politics. we homeschooled and center biological children to private school. but her foster children were prevented by the state of minnesota from homeschooling or sending foster children. there's only one option and its public school. i was very concerned about what i saw in public schools with another i became involved. the bottom line is the federal

government has essentially taken over the public school classroom. what i said during the course of the races of fire president to shut down the department of education. they've done nothing to add to the quality, the high academic standards of america. they've only brought them down. the local public school classrooms must be directed by local parents and local teachers and local faculty. that is where the emphasis needs to come. and if there's any number of excellent materials we can use to teach children academically, but i believe very strongly in the high quality of local public schools. it was former president bill clinton that said america needs to get over his love affair with local control of public schools. we are seeing the end result of the public government when they run our public schools. we need to get the federal government out of running it. they just mess up every game.

>> hi, congresswoman bachmann. my name is amy waterman from louisiana state university. people like to see how their actions are represented in politics. you said that romney wants to repeal obamacare. how exactly is she going to do that? >> i think he's just going to sign the legislation because it will be up to the house and senate to pass legislation for full-scale repeal and then reset it on the desk in either sense it or it doesn't. and so he will. i have no doubt he will. i think he is a man of his word. remember, this is a very sharp guy. he's very savvy. he's an optimistic person. he has proven himself he knows how to succeed in a gas business. he also get the public is very upset with obamacare and he will be endeared to the nation when he fixes his signature to that legislation. thank you for asking that question.

>> my name is rj, st. louis university. i'm also on the cci program. i want to personally thank you for taking all the foster care children in. i'm a conservative activists. how to effectively bring the conservative message back to child welfare advocacy without being attacked by the liberals? >> just count on it you will be attacked by the liberals. it goes to the territory and that's where you have to have a titanium spine. honestly, when it is a courtroom lawyer, but one thing i found in my life is in order to succeed cannot be the best prepared person in the room, especially to the young lady's question on the lsat. that is what you do come and be the best prepared person in the broom. do your homework. the one thing i learned is that corporate lawyer, i needed to know my opponent's case better than my opponent did. i needed to know their case inside and out. i needed my case inside and outside could answer any

question and poke holes in their argument. this irked me well during the course of the presidential debate. i encourage you come to be extremely well prepared. if you going to work with adoption or foster care, this is an issue work and were talking about human life. these are widgets were dealing with. these are human lives, so want the best possible outcome. the one thing we know as such at this best in a home with mom and dad and a stable environment where they don't have to have a lot of money. it's just skin they have a stable environment? so that's what a child needs. i needs. i put some legislation forward for foster children so they can at least stay in the same school. after changing homes can they stay in the same school so they have some stability? you had a follow-up. adiabatic >> proposing that legislation?

[inaudible] [laughter] >> this is our last question. >> mnc from atlanta. we told amy about being prepared and books to read, with list of books would you suggest we read? >> everything bush schlafly has ever written. i don't care if it's out of print demagogy used bookstore and buy it. she's absolute genius. i mean it. you don't realize how privileged you are to be in this room is phyllis schlafly. this woman single-handedly, and i mean that, single-handedly moved the nation in the 1970s. no one else. no man in this country did with phyllis schlafly did. and accolades would take hours to talk about this woman what she has done for our country. she quite literally as a living legend. i remember what your question is. everything phyllis rowe.

but you can go to my website. i think i have a list of books and classics. the banks of the doctors. mark sinus and great contemporary books. america alone is a good one. and coulter has a lot of great books i recommend. you want to be well read in history. you want to know american history. david burton go to wall builders.com. learn american history and heritage because when you know who you are come you fall in love with america. you fall in love with eircom site. there is no other nation like america. make sure you've read our founding document, declaration of independence. bill of rights. you can get that done. be sure you read the founding documents. read the federalist papers. begin there. very easy to do. be well that and then call my office and i give you more books to read. >> i want to tell you if you

want a good lesson in how to do with the press or hostile questions are professors and so forth, you watch michele bachmann on the tv because she has no equal in being able to handle the hostile question. we handle them in the debate and the interviews you did. i just wish romney could take some questions from her. but at any rate, you could take questions by watching it because she's better than anyone else in the country in handling the hostile question or making her point. let's give michele bachmann hand. [applause] >> thank you. >> i just want to say in response to that but i have an unfair advantage. when i grow up i had three brothers and sisters. that was an unparalleled schooling. so thank you, phyllis. >> good, thank you. [applause] >> our next speaker is not here

yet. is that correct? why do? why do we stand up and take a seventh inning stretch right now while we're waiting for her next speaker to come. >> politics and public affairs >> 30 years of the administrations of ronald reagan and bush and clinton and bush and obama has done more to confirm marxist prediction of the rich getting richer and everyone else falling behind than 75 years of the soviet union perhaps.